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Category Archives: India

I’ve been quiet on the blogging front lately, too busy eating, holidaying and writing other less pleasurable pieces! I’ve also been reading plenty and its time to share some of that with you. For my trip to India, I researched and read as much literature as I could. Here are my recommendations:

A Passage to India by E M Forster. The quintessential colonial classic was my kindle companion during my own passage through India. Despite making me feel embarrassed to be British at times, it is cleverly derisive of the upper classes romping their way through foreign lands whilst keeping their minds firmly shut to alternative cultures. Witty and perfectly composed, this was more enjoyable than Forster’s other works for me.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I didn’t realise this popular novel, another Booker winner, was about India until I started reading it. Whilst technically located all-adrift on the ocean waves, it is a very Indian novel in style and in its sense of drama. The main character is raised at the Pondicherry Zoo on the south-east coast of India. The plot centres on his shipwrecked adventure aboard a lifeboat he shares with Mr Richard Parker, the Bengal Tiger. Surreal, symbolic and summing up with a twist, it is justifiably popular.

Varanasi poses a problem for a blogger. How on earth do you even begin to describe this crazy place? How could I dare to try and summarise something so unique? There is too much to say and yet I am gobsmacked. I was so overwhelmed that I’m almost lost for words. Almost. Continue reading →

Landing in Lucknow was the culmination of an epic journey via Manchester, Munich and Mumbai with no shut-eye and the drudgery of airport formalities. My very first taste of the sublime subcontinent was a 7 hour stint at Chhatrapati Shivaji … Continue reading →